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wild
stares of the gorillas. She hardly took notice of the officers—they
didn’t have pointy teeth. The gorillas were positioned
strategically in front of the only door. There was no way she could
fight off two gorillas.
    Kara forgot her strange ghost-like
appearance and felt anger in the pit of her angel body. It lit her
like a flame and grew hotter and hotter, until it consumed
her.
    She glowered at the officers. She
hadn’t done anything wrong. She was being judged and convicted
before all the facts were known. What else could go
wrong?
    “ Now wait just a minute!”
exclaimed Raphael.
    She moved in front of Kara
defensively, like a mother protecting her child.
    “ What is the meaning of
this? You can’t just barge in here without proper authorization.
This is my private healing chamber. Under whose authority have you come
here?”
    The senior officer stepped forward.
His face was hard but the fear in his eyes betrayed him.
    “ I apologize, archangel
Raphael, but we have strict instructions to bring in—” He gestured
to Kara. “— her, at once.”
    “ From whom? Bring
her where exactly?” Raphael’s tone was threatening. She seemed to
expand in height, and suddenly she looked fiercer than the two
gorillas combined. The two officers leaned back.
    The senior officer hesitated before
answering. “It was the archangel Metatron. He wishes us to bring
the intruder to him at once.”
    “ I’m not an intruder ,” said Kara
before she could control herself. “I’m a guardian angel just like
you. So what if I’m—if I’m a little discolored . I’m still a guardian.
Besides, as far as I know, and I know the rules—believe me—I haven’t
done anything wrong. I haven’t broken any rules, have I? So you can
just go tell your Metatron that I’m staying right here with
Raphael.”
    The officer seemed taken aback that
Kara had had the nerve to speak to him at all. He glowered at her,
which only made her anger deepen.
    “ Metatron,” he said and
raised his chin, “is a highly respectable archangel, intruder .”
    “ I’m not an intruder!”
Kara’s anger skyrocketed. If the gorillas hadn’t been there, she
would have slapped the scowl off his face.
    She glanced at the gorillas. They were
eyeballing her like she was a curious toy, and they were waiting
for their commanders to give them the word to grab her and squeeze
the soul out of her.
    “ Metatron , you say?” said
Raphael.
    The look in Raphael’s eye didn’t
comfort Kara. She suspected that Metatron and Raphael didn’t get
along. Raphael was the most gentle, most passive of all the
archangels she had ever met, and so her attitude toward Metatron
was disturbing.
    Kara had never heard of the name
Metatron before. He must have been appointed to the council of
archangels while she had been absent. She had a feeling she would
be meeting him very soon.
    Raphael stood defiantly with her hands
on her hips and stared down at the two officers.
    “ Kara is under my care, and right now
she isn’t going anywhere with you. So you can turn around right now
and take your companions with you. Get out of my chamber.”
    The officers squirmed uncomfortably,
but the senior officer seemed determined to do his job. He cleared
his throat. “I’m sorry, archangel Raphael, but we have strict
orders to bring her in. If you don’t let us take her
then—”
    “ You’ll what?” growled
Raphael, and even Kara felt a little frightened.
    Raphael was as gentle as a lamb until
you messed with her. Now she was as fierce as a lioness protecting
her cub.
    “ I don’t care what
Metatron wants,” continued the archangel. “He has no authority over
me. She stays with me, and that’s final.”
    “ But, archangel Raphael,”
began the senior officer, “we were told to bring her in no matter
what. We were told to use force if need be.”
    At that the two gorillas growled and
hit their chests with their powerful fists. The floor shook as they
pounded the ground with their